Celebrity Scoop: Mehcad Brooks

It's not all that often that a stunningly muscled young man whom you've never met sprawls on a chair in front of you, and you realize: I know what he looks like in his underwear.

And it's a wonderful thought.

Mehcad Brooks, who plays Rolly on ABC's "My Generation," airing Thursdays, is also a Calvin Klein underwear model. He moves with the easy grace of an athlete, and on the show, his character, like himself, had high-school aspirations of playing in the NBA.

The show is an interesting drama, following nine alumni of a Texas high-school class of 2000. They had been subjects of a documentary in school. Now, a decade later, filmmakers follow up on the young adults to see what choices they made in those 10 turbulent years. Rolly is serving in the Army, he's married, and his wife is pregnant.

Brooks had to choose between basketball and acting, and he went with Othello, which took him to a state championship for theater. He had been a shooting guard and made all-state in high school.

"No offense to people who play, but it didn't appeal to me to play a child's sport" as a career, he says.

Without prompting, Brooks goes on to say that he has known a lot of athletes, and "the majority I am not interested in having a conversation with."

Proving that he was raised right, Brooks says derisively of the athletes, "You have six baby mamas. Have you heard of a prophylactic? You can't have mouth jewelry. Something is wrong if you are brushing your teeth with jewelry cleaner."

Though he takes his exercise seriously, Brooks doesn't even go on the court for a pickup game anymore.

"I'm a grown man," he says, flashing a great smile. "It's not cute when you walk into a meeting with an injury."